Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter (now called X). Anyone today can easily recognize these names as top social media platforms.
Still, about three decades ago, many people would have never imagined that social media would become a daily aspect of people's lives. In one way or another, everyone connects to a form of social media.
Whether it is simply Meta's WhatsApp for texting or Elon Musk's X, social platforms have seen their way into the day-to-day activities of their users.
For businesses, this trend presents a never-seen-before opportunity — an opportunity to promote their brands, products, and services to people using these platforms.
But just like SEO is needed to succeed on Google, social media management is essential here.
What is that?
Why does it matter?
And how can you get started?
These are vital questions that this article answers. So, kicking off, what is social media management?
Introducing Social Media Management
Social media management is the process of managing a social media account to improve its presence on the selected social platform. As such, this process usually involves at least the following three:
Content Creation
Active Engagement
Tracking Progress
As someone interested in the work of a social media manager, you'll need to consider, in detail, what the above three tasks involve.
But before we go into that, why should a brand consider incorporating social media management? The next section provides a detailed answer to that.
Importance of Social Media Management for Businesses
1. Allows You to Connect With Your Target Audience
Since social media management involves the regular creation and posting of content, it makes it easier for a brand to connect with its target audience.
For a business, this can be a game changer. After all, if your audience finds your content engaging, your follower count will increase, giving you more views and a whole lot of other benefits.
2. Boosts Your Social Media Marketing Campaign
Social marketing and management go hand in hand. The latter allows the former to succeed. Without managing your account, it becomes difficult to grow on social platforms. And no marketing campaign can prove effective without an audience.
It's similar to how your Google Ads or affiliate marketing is useless without even having any site visitors. In the case of social media, management allows you to not only build but connect with an audience (as seen above).
3. Supports Website Traffic
In addition to boosting marketing campaigns, solid social media management is capable of boosting your website's SEO.
By connecting with your audience, you'll find it easy to direct them to your website. This will increase your traffic and reputation.
What's more, for many businesses, their sites act as their central online presence. The more traffic, the higher the potential clients.
Social media management is a whole new field, especially if you have no prior experience or knowledge of it. Thus, it can seem daunting.
However, it may be comforting to know that every individual social media user incorporates a level of social media management. Whether it is posting content or replying to comments, these are aspects of managing a social media account.
But as a brand, you need to perform this to a greater degree. As seen above, it allows you to connect with your target customers and strengthens your online presence. In short, social media management matters for successful social marketing.
So, with that noted, how can you get started on managing your social account?
How to Get Started on Your Social Media Management
1. Know Your Audience and Goals
It's often been said that the first step towards any form of online marketing is understanding who your target audience is and what your goals are. And there's a solid reason for that. Why? Consider this:
You're a brand in the shoe industry that focuses specifically on sports shoes. And for a considerable amount of time, you've been creating social content promoting all kinds of shoes. People love your content. You get views, engagement, and even followers. However, it ends there.
When people visit your site, all they see are sports shoes. Only a tiny fraction of these visitors are athletic. Thus, your conversion rate is low. What's the problem? Simple: You spent a lot of time and effort creating interesting content but didn't aim it towards the right audience.
But say you focused your efforts towards promoting only athletic shoes. While your viewers will be relatively smaller, people will know what to expect. In other words, your viewers will mostly be those interested in your services. That's your target audience.
The primary goal of every brand is to capture the attention of its target audience and convert them into sales. So, before you make content, research your target audience. What are their interests? Are they limited to a specific age, location, or gender? These are vital questions to answer.
2. Select a Relevant Social Platform
In the case of social media management, you have one more question to answer: What platform does my target audience mostly use? Yes, before creating any form of content, identify the best platform to reach your potential clients.
Do they love short videos? Would that avenue be best to reach them? Then a platform like Instagram may work best. Long videos? Then YouTube comes into consideration.
What if they simply love short copy? Will Facebook or X be suitable? Asking such questions can help you pinpoint the right social platform. In addition to that, the list of top social media platforms in 2023 will further help you make the right decision.
3. Create Tailored Content
By now, you've done half the job of creating content. How? By identifying your audience, you have an idea of what your content will focus on. And by selecting a platform, you know the form of content to produce.
All you need to do to keep creating engaging content is to keep researching your industry. Search for relevant topics within your niche that'll interest your audience.
Also, regularly take note of what type of content your competitors are producing. This is an essential part of social marketing.
And last but not least, regularly post content. You have to do this to keep reminding your audience that you exist. Soon, they'll be searching for you themselves. That's how it works. To do this effectively, consider using social media scheduling tools.
4. Engage With Your Audience
The unique fact about social media is that to grow on a platform, you need to actively engage with your audience. After all, that's what makes it a social platform.
You have to prove to other users that there's a human behind your account. Not only will this build trust, but it will also help people to form an impression about your brand. So, how do you go about this?
Ensure to reply to comments made on your posts. If possible, reply to every comment made. At the start of your social media management, this will be vital to connecting with your audience.
But it doesn't stop there. Also, reply to other users' content. Ensure it is relevant and proves that you watched the video or read the copy. When doing this, avoid dropping links to your content. Let your comment do the talking alone.
5. Track Your Efforts
What is your best-performing content? Why is it your best-performing content? What makes it different from others? Finding answers to questions like these is another important step in social reputation management.
And to find the answers, you need to track your social efforts. Analyze the posts that users are engaging with more and create more content on that topic. If that doesn't work, try adapting a style you used in that content to other topics. Such analysis and experiments are vital ways of growing on social platforms. And above all, don't forget to track your competitors' content.
6. Be Ready to Adapt to New Trends
Another noteworthy feature of social media is that it's always changing. People keep inventing new trends and switching their attention to different platforms.
As a brand, you need to be flexible. Stay updated with what's happening on your platform. And be ready to switch to another platform if the one you're currently using becomes outdated. This is one aspect of social media that will never change. You just have to keep managing it.
Wrapping Up: Is Social Media Management Worth the Effort?
Yes, it does. And by now, that won't surprise you anymore. After all, in this article, you've discovered how essential social management is for connecting with your audience and strengthening your online presence.
What's more, it boosts marketing campaigns and increases conversion rate. Yes, if you're considering social media as a marketing medium, you need not delay. By incorporating the tips discussed in this post, you'll be one step closer to successful social media management.